Job 31:2

31:2 What then would be one’s lot from God above,

one’s heritage from the Almighty ¹  on high?

Job 31:28

31:28 then this ²  also would be iniquity to be judged, ³ 

for I would have been false ⁴  to God above.

Job 3:4

3:4 That day ⁵  – let it be darkness; ⁶ 

let not God on high regard ⁷  it,

nor let light shine ⁸  on it!

[31:2]  ¹ tn Heb “lot of Shaddai,” which must mean “the lot from Shaddai,” a genitive of source.

[31:28]  ² tn Heb “it.”

[31:28]  ³ tn See v. 11 for the construction. In Deut 17:2ff. false worship of heavenly bodies is a capital offense. In this passage, Job is talking about just a momentary glance at the sun or moon and the brief lapse into a pagan thought. But it is still sin.

[31:28]  ⁴ tn The verb כָּחַשׁ (kakhash) in the Piel means “to deny.” The root meaning is “to deceive; to disappoint; to grow lean.” Here it means that he would have failed or proven unfaithful because his act would have been a denial of God.

[3:4]  ³ tn The first two words should be treated as a casus pendens (see D. J. A. Clines, Job [WBC], 69), referred to as an extraposition in recent grammarians.

[3:4]  ⁴ sn This expression by Job is the negation of the divine decree at creation – “Let there be light,” and that was the first day. Job wishes that his first day be darkness: “As for that day, let there be darkness.” Since only God has this prerogative, Job adds the wish that God on high would not regard that day.

[3:4]  ⁵ tn The verb דָּרַשׁ (darash) means “to seek, inquire,” and “to address someone, be concerned about something” (cf. Deut 11:12; Jer 30:14,17). Job wants the day to perish from the mind of God.

[3:4]  ⁶ tn The verb is the Hiphil of יָפַע (yafa’), which means here “cause to shine.” The subject is the term נְהָרָה (nÿharah,“light”), a hapax legomenon which is from the verb נָהַר (nahar, “to gleam” [see Isa 60:5]).